


Colors

by Songbird321



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Boyfriends Being Cute, Colorblindness, Colors, Fluff, M/M, Marco Being an Adorable Dork and Trying to Make Jean Happy, Mentions of other characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 18:05:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5636674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Songbird321/pseuds/Songbird321
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Have you ever wondered what colors look like?” Marco blurted out, eyes shining with curiosity. Jean shrugged, eyes scanning the sidewalk ahead of him. </p>
<p>	“I guess,” he answered noncommittally. </p>
<p>	Marco nudged his shoulder gently, an idea taking shape in his head. “Want me to tell you about them?” Jean laughed. His eyes darted to Marco with a look of humorous incredulity.   </p>
<p>	“You think you can tell me about the world’s best describing words without using said describing words?” the fair-haired boy asked with a hint of his usual sarcasm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colors

**Author's Note:**

> A few months ago, after a day of seeing a bunch of beautifully colors flowers, this piece was born. The idea just popped into my head, and I had to write it. I do have to admit that I didn't do much research for it, so it may not be scientifically accurate regarding colorblindness. The idea was just too cute so I kind of rushed into it!
> 
> I sincerely hope you enjoy!

Marco smiled up at the clear, blue sky, soaking in every last bit of the beautiful spring day. A light breeze was blowing between the branches of the trees full of thick, green leaves where birds were sharing their happy tunes with the world. Spring had sprung, and Marco couldn’t get enough of it. Now that the snow was gone, Jean had been more than willing to take a walk through the city park with him. 

The freckled boy smiled as they passed a playground. Children were running everywhere, climbing on the bright orange and yellow jungle gym, swaying on the purple swings, and racing across the red monkey bars. It seemed to him that the sunlight was charging the kids with energy like a battery. Marco chuckled to himself as he watched a little boy in a neon green shirt tumble out of a slide and race across the playground like his life depended on it. 

“Enjoying the view?” Jean asked. The smallest trace of a smile broke on his own lips as he caught sight of the same child tumble down the slide a second time. 

“They’re just so happy,” the brunette answered. “I can’t help it.” 

Jean’s smiled widened as he lightly wrapped his fingers around Marco’s hand as they continued along the path. The playground fell behind them and a stretch of perfectly manicured flower beds appeared on either side of the pavement. The vivid hues of the petals drew Marco’s eyes and made his heart beat harder with the happiness of spring. 

“Which one’s your favorite?” Marco asked, examining each and every flower before making his choice. “I like the orange ones myself. With a little bit of red around the center?” The cheerful smile he turned on his companion faltered when he saw the brooding look on Jean’s face. “What’s wrong?” 

Jean sighed, running a hand through his hair like he always did when he was nervous. Marco’s eyebrows knit together in concern and he stopped walking, (he ignored how cute Jean’s hair looked half sticking up after he messed with it). “Jean, what is it?” The freckled boy squeezed his companion’s hand encouragingly. 

Jean sighed. “Marco… I’ve never told you this before… I probably should have, but it just didn’t come up, you know? But uh… I’m uh… I’m colorblind,” the fair-haired boy said, his hazel eyes darting everywhere but Marco. The brunette blinked. 

“That’s okay,” he said with a soft smile, giving Jean’s hand another squeeze. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“No, it’s my fault for not telling you,” Jean shook his head, examining his shoes. “But it doesn’t really matter, you know?” Marco frowned. 

“I think you’re just trying to be a tough guy,” he replied. A small smile worked its way onto the fair-haired boy’s lips. It wasn’t very sincere, but it was a smile nonetheless. 

“I know,” Jean said softly. “But, to answer your question, my favorite’s probably that flower with all the layers of petals. It looks like it’d be pretty.” He pulled Marco forward along the path. “Come on, let’s keep going.” Marco simply nodded and followed along, but his heart was no longer in it. It was obvious that Jean was troubled, his hazel eyes clouded over by a dark acceptance. Whether he was upset that he’d made things awkward for Marco or by his inability to enjoy colors wasn’t clear. All Marco knew was that he had to fix it. It was a beautiful day, and everyone had to enjoy it, even Jean. 

The question was, how? He had plentiful experience breaking Jean out of his little mood spells, and knew he could easily distract Jean from the awkwardness he’d caused by diverting the conversation elsewhere, making jokes and being silly and making the awkward evaporate into thin air. But that wouldn’t solve it if the inability to see colors was the problem. That was a whole other situation all together. A situation that called for a different form of cheering up that Marco needed to think about. 

“You can ask, you know.” 

Marco jumped at Jean’s words, breaking him out of the reverie he’d fallen into. He blinked confused brown eyes at his companion, who for his part simply shrugged and cast his eyes away from Marco’s innocent gaze. “Your face is screwing up like you’re thinking about something, or want to say something. Just say it.”

“Have you ever wondered what colors look like?” Marco blurted out, eyes shining with curiosity. Jean shrugged, eyes scanning the sidewalk ahead of him. 

“I guess,” he answered noncommittally. 

Marco nudged his shoulder gently, an idea taking shape in his head. “Want me to tell you about them?” Jean laughed. His eyes darted to Marco with a look of humorous incredulity. 

“You think you can tell me about the world’s best describing words without using said describing words?” the fair-haired boy asked with a hint of his usual sarcasm. 

Marco shrugged. “I believe they’re called adjectives, and I think I can.” Jean sighed, looking off the path at a stretch of grass. 

“Okay. If you want to,” he said, pulling Marco off the path and up to a small hill. Jean sat down on the grass and offered Marco the spot next to him. “Let’s hear all about those colors, then.” 

The freckled boy grinned as he joined his boyfriend on the grass, immediately stretching out on his back, arms folded under his head. Jean followed suit and lay down, staring up at the cloudless sky. 

“Alright. Let’s start with yellow,” Marco began, his face screwing up with an expression of concentration. Jean could only see the child-like pursed lips and drawn eyebrows out of the corner of his eye, but that was enough to have him fighting a smile. “It’s the color of the sun, and bananas, and butter. You like bananas, right?” Jean gave him a nod. “Well, think of that taste for yellow. And I guess you can mix it with lemons too…”

“Oh my god, ew!” Jean’s nose wrinkled in disgust. 

“Yeah, forget that,” Marco corrected quickly, waving his hand in the air as if to make the words disappear. “Think about the two tastes separately, then. Each one describes a different shade of yellow.” Jean nodded thoughtfully. “Yellow is very bright, sometimes blinding like a lemon, and sometimes so soft you feel like you could just wrap yourself in it and melt, like butter or a banana. It’s a warm color, very cheerful. It’s kind of like Sasha.” Jean laughed and vaulted up on his elbow, staring down at Marco with amused hazel eyes. 

“Really?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” Marco nodded, a laugh catching in his throat. “If I had to pick a person to embody the color of yellow, it would be Sasha Braus, no questions asked.” Jean laughed again. 

“I like that,” he commented, rolling back down on his back. “Putting a personality to a color. And I guess it makes sense. So yellow’s happy, hyper and hungry all the time. Cool. What’s next?”

Marco grinned. “I never said yellow had anything to do with being hungry.”

“No, but Sasha does, and you said it was the color of butter and bananas. That’s food,” Jean pointed out. “Anyway, keep going.”

“Okay, fine. Whatever Mr. Particular,” Marco sighed. “I guess we’ll do green next. Green is much more calm than yellow. It’s the color of the grass, the leaves on the trees, and most plants actually. When you see it, it usually makes you feel happy in a calm way. As corny as it is, you could say green is a very rooted color, like an anchor that connects you to home or something? It’s also been associated with intelligence, I’ve heard. So green is both a calm color and a smart one.”

“How’s it smart?” Jean asked. “Describe it to me.” 

“Well,” Marco said, biting his lower lip in thought. “I guess green is very all encompassing, like… because it’s in all the plants, it seems to be everywhere, in all things. So if you know what it means to be green, you would know a lot. I guess that’s all I got on that.” He turned his head to look at Jean, hoping his answer sufficed. 

Jean nodded. “No, that’s good. Green’s calming, intelligent, and rooted. I like it. Who would you say has a green personality?”

Marco giggled, rolling up on his side. “You really want me to keep doing that?” Jean nodded. “Okay,” Marco shook his head. “I guess… Reiner would be green. Because he’s so level headed about everything and cares so deeply about people that talking with him is very soothing. And he is pretty smart. So yeah. I’m going to say Reiner. Also Armin. Armin’s definitely a green.” 

“I’ll take it,” Jean replied. “What’s next?”

“Hm,” Marco said thoughtfully. “How about purple? Purple’s a fun color. It’s considered a cool color, but it seems more to me like it’s own special category. It’s the color of… plums. And irises, the flower not the part of the eye. And… well, a lot of things are colored purple, but not many things are naturally purple except flowers. I think that’s something that’s so special about it. Anyway, like I said, it’s a fun color. It’s both very classy and crazy at the same time. There’s a sense of power about it like you don’t want to mess with purple but at the same time it’s completely approachable. Purple’s a strong color with a wild side.” 

Jean smiled. “Let me guess, Ymir’s purple.”

“Without a doubt,” Marco nodded. 

“Sounds like a good color,” Jean replied. 

“Oh, it is,” Marco replied with a laugh. “Just like yellow and green, it can be bright and in your face, or soft and calm and beautiful. It’s never the same. No two colors are. That’s something that’s so wonderful about them.” Jean simply nodded. Marco’s heart beat against his chest, not sure if he was actually helping at all, or making the situation worse. He figured it was best to continue on before his nerves got the better of him. “Next we’re going to do brown. Brown is the color of dirt and tree trunks and also many eyes. It’s homey and gentle. Many people say it’s boring and ugly but that’s because they don’t take the time to really see it for what it is. Brown’s kind of like green in the sense that it’s very grounded and knows what its doing. What makes it different is its natural strength and stability, as well as its loving quality. To put a person to it, I’d say Mikasa because she’s very level headed and strong, both physically and mentally.” 

“But no one ever says Mikasa’s ugly or boring,” Jean pointed out.

“No they do not,” Marco agreed with a nod. “But she’s still going to be my embodiment of brown for you as the exception to popular opinion.”

Jean nodded. “Nice.”

“Indeed,” Marco smiled. “Moving on. Let’s go to orange. Orange is a lot like yellow, very bright and sometimes overwhelming, but altogether a happy color. The only thing I can think of that’s naturally orange are pumpkins and oranges. I mean, there are tons of orange flowers and fish and things, and it’s one of the colors of the sunset too. But it’s another warm color that just gives you energy. It’s kind of awkward, and a lot of people don’t like it, but orange can be a force to be reckoned with. It’s persistent and compliments other colors really well. It’s helpful and happy.”

“Hmm. Nice,” Jean muttered thoughtfully. “And…?”

“And the person I see as orange is Connie. Definitely Connie,” Marco answered with a satisfied grin. “Want blue or pink next?”

“Oh, blue,” Jean said. 

“That’s a deep one. Blue is the color of the sky as well as the generally accepted color of water. It’s usually connoted with sadness or peace,” Marco began. “But I think blue’s more than that. Yes, it can be sad, and when I say sad I mean the simple kind of sad where you might cry for a day or two but end up okay within a week. I think deeper sadness is more of a gray feeling, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now. Anyway, blue can also be peaceful, very subdued and calm and makes your heart happy. But it can also be a very charming color, sweet and soft. Blue is safe and dependable and emotional in a way. I would say that both Bertholdt and Annie remind me of blue.” 

“Blue sounds like a really nice color,” Jean commented listlessly. He was staring up at the sky with an unreadable expression, like he was trying to imagine the sky Marco was seeing. 

Marco nodded. “It is.” 

“Is it your favorite color?” Jean asked, eyeing Marco curiously. 

“Yeah, I suppose it is,” Marco replied with a smile. “Pink next?” Jean gave a small nod. “Pink is the sweetest color of them all. It can be light and fluffy or vibrant and wild. Either way, pink is so charming it’s almost disgusting. It’s thought of as being pretty girly, but it’s just a fun loving, sugary sweet color that’s just so loveable. Christa is definitely a pink.”

“Did you just describe a color as fluffy?” Jean questioned. 

“Yep,” Marco replied simply. 

“Okay. Just checking,” the fair-haired boy replied with a shrug. “What’s next?”

“I think the last major color we have is red,” Marco answered. “Unless you want me to do black, white, and gray?”

“I already have enough of those in my life,” Jean commented sarcastically. Marco blushed. “So please, let’s hear about red.”

“Red is the color of fire trucks, and tomatoes, and stop signs,” Marco began, eyeing the sky. “Those are all pretty commonplace things, but red isn’t just any old color. Red is fiery, passionate, kind of reckless and wild. You can’t slow red down because red is on fire. It’s almost like you have so much emotion that you can’t feel anything: you’re too angry, too happy, too sad, too in love to think. Red’s dangerous, but so satisfying. I’d say Eren’s a red… and so are you.” 

Jean blinked. “Really?” Marco nodded. 

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I mean, you have a lot of passion for what you do. I know you try to hide it, but I can see it. And I also… when I think about our relationship, I just… if I had to put a color to how I feel about you, it would have to be red.” 

He watched as Jean’s cheeks blazed red at his words, and felt his own skin blaze with embarrassment at saying something so mushy. 

“And uh… those are all the basic colors,” Marco said awkwardly, his fingers toying nervously with the grass. “Of course there are a lot of variations of those, lights and darks and fusions of colors that create different combinations, but I think we’ve covered the basics….”

Jean suddenly vaulted up into a sitting position, staring down at his freckled companion. His face was clouded by shadow as the sun shone behind his head. Marco could still see his hazel eyes shining down on him, perfectly unreadable. 

“Marco,” he said, the word gliding so easily off of his tongue. “Thank you for bringing color to my life.” 

Marco blinked before he smiled up at Jean. “Of course. It really wasn’t all that hard to do. And you said describing adjectives would be a challenge.” 

Jean shook his head. “I don’t mean that, Marco. I’m glad that you took the time to try to share with me what colors are, but it’s more than that. I don’t need to know what green or orange looks like when I’m with you. You’re the color in my black and white life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Marco blushed. “Jean…”

“I mean it,” the fair-haired boy interrupted, shaking his head slowly. The brunette smiled. “You said you think of red when you think about our relationship, and I can’t say for sure, but I think I think of the same thing. Thank you, Marco. Thank you for… being my colors.” 

“Anytime, Jean,” Marco replied, his eyes twinkling in the sunlight. 

“What color are your eyes?” Jean asked curiously, one finger softly drawing patterns on Marco’s freckled cheek.

“Brown,” Marco answered. “And yours are hazel, which is a light brown with a little green and gold mixed in. They’re very pretty.”

“I’m sure yours are prettier,” Jean replied. He continued to lazily caress Marco’s face. 

“I’m I really the light of your life?” Marco asked in a breathless voice, his fingers wrapping softly around Jean’s wrist, the one still guiding his fingers over the brunette’s cheek. Jean smiled. 

“My own personal rainbow,” he replied, bending forward and touching the reddest kiss he could muster on his boyfriend’s lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it!
> 
> Check me out on [tumblr](http://pretty-eyes-jaeger.tumblr.com) for more jeanmarco, fluff, and SNK shenanigans!


End file.
